Sticky Date Cupcakes with Toffee Cream Cheese Icing

The very lovely Meredith on her last night shift

The other night at work was Meredith's last night so was an excuse to eat lots of yummy food and celebrate/commiserate the next step in Meredith's life....namely the BIG OE! Meredith is a truly lovely person. While she is young she is able to relate to a huge range of people. She has a huge amount to offer not only in a professional context but in a personal context too. While everyone is thrilled that she and her partner Paddy get to see the world and have lots of new experiences, I think it's fair to say that we have lost an amazing nurse, work colleague and friend...and I have lost one of my baking mates/students too. Have a fantastic time away Meredith. I really hope you and Paddy have a fantastic time and that you stay safe and happy.


For Meredith's last night, I decided upon these cupcakes which I saw on a lovely NZ blog I follow called Baking=Love. Anyone with English heritage would know what a Sticky Date/Toffee Pudding is. It is a delicious pudding made with dates which have been chopped up and soaked in a mix of boiling water and baking soda. So while you might say that you don't like dates, you don't end up with a datey kind of flavour. It is always topped with a toffee or caramel sauce which only adds to it's decadence and richness. YUM!!!


The mix for these cupcakes is very, very liquid. I was sure that I had done something wrong but they ended up being tender and soft and just perfect once they had cooled. For the frosting I added 2-3 c icing sugar to make it more pipeable as I found the recipe just made it too soft. As well as that I omitted the cornflour as it just didn't seem right. The salt just makes the topping even more delicious and I used Fleur De Sel sea salt which has an almost floral flavour to it...I mean anything salted caramel HAS to be good doesn't it? I used a can of caramel condensed milk as because I was in the middle of night shift I had neither the time nor the inclination to watch over a simmering pan of water for a few hours.


So give these cupcakes a go and whatever you do make sure they aren't lying around or else you might just be tempted to eat them all up yourself.